YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

The Young Professionals (YP) group is open to all water and wastewater professionals who are under the age of 35.  This is a joint group between AWWA and Hawaii Water Environment Association (HWEA).  This group offers a unique opportunity for YPs to get involved in the AWWA and HWEA organizations, network with peers in their field of work, and to continue their education.

Our 2025-2026 Officers and Committee Chairs are:

Please be on the look for announcements of our upcoming events. If you know of any YP’s who want to be included in our mailing list, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/gxQp7T . If you have any questions regarding the YP committee, please contact: young-professionals@hwea.org

YP Summit Recap & YP Update

The YP Summit in Charlotte over March 22-24, 2026, brought in hundreds of leaders representing their individual organizations to learn about managing up, conflict resolution, and upcoming tools we can implement for success. Characteristics of successful leaders I heard from included: proficient, does their due-diligence, uses proper judgement, innovative, adaptable, balanced, and provides clarity in communication. Sage wisdom that stood out to me came from Heather Collins (AWWA President), Tad Bohannon (CEO Central Arkansas Water), and Kishia Powell (WSSC Water CEO).

Heather focused on advocating for yourself through introspection and preparedness. Understand what you want and the values/drivers of your client (sometimes your “client” is your supervisor) and be able to clearly articulate your ask. This also comes with practicing your elevator pitch in your own words. Make it catchy and interesting; Tad’s example was “I save lives.” While he doesn’t perform open heart surgery, his role in providing clean water and preparing for emergencies does save lives in his field. A quippy takeaway from Heather was “Overprepare, or delegate.” Tad urged Young Professionals to be considering who are your mentors (the ones who you talk to) and who are your sponsors (the ones who talk about you). Getting guidance from someone you admire is great networking and career development. Live your values and be a person who others would speak highly about to someone who could be your next open door; that’s how you gain unofficial sponsors. Remembering birthdays and their kid’s names are all examples of what one of my mentors, Dean Nakano, always encourages-become friends first, and clients second. Tad centered his talk on thinking about what success looks like to YOU! What his 5-10 year plan looked like when he was in college didn’t align with what he felt looked like success once married and starting a family. It’s ok to adjust, but make a plan and speak up nonetheless. Kishia got the hundreds of attendees up out of their seats to move to a corner of the room based on personality types we most resonated with; the model she followed was the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI, see image below). The exercise set her up to explain how knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each team member can identify roles and gaps. She also provided an answer to the “VUCA” acronym that describes challenging conditions from volatility, uncertainty, complex, ambiguous to using vision, understanding, clarity, agility to address these challenges.

Skills and resources promoted to address common challenges were AI, emergency preparedness, and storytelling. A panel of speakers discussed that utilities aren’t quite prepared to be using AI since many don’t have the data, systems, or understanding of AI to verify the functions AI can perform. They recommended to trust AI, but always verify and cautioned overuse; “When you have a hammer, everything looks a little like a nail.” Dealing with emergency situations was unfortunately a widely shared experience amongst attendees. A speaker shared that $1 spent on preparedness can save $7 in disaster relief spending; leading with resiliency, preparedness, and partnerships can create measurable long-term value. Operators benefit from scenario planning to help the utility prioritize limited resources by ranking the likelihood and impact of potential shortcomings. Having one central communication point and covering the top 3 questions - 1. What happened? 2. What are you doing about it? and 3. When will service be back on? - can ease community concerns and create a unified, coordinated front to managing emergencies. Storytelling was brought up all throughout the conference as a critical skill in communication. Following the structure- Something happened, but then.., now (climax/turning point), and resolution/outcoming - shares the context, conflict, change, and meaning to encourage clarity, trust, and understanding. Storytelling will likely be an important skill to implement in dealing with challenges as we go forward.

I was able to connect with so many young professionals from utilities, consultant groups, sales, construction, and a variety of other pathways all with an interest in leadership and water. It motivated me to bring that innovation and care back to my home organization to find ways we can fill our group with different perspectives and skill sets to best meet community needs and progress our field.§

By Abby Haneke, Young Professionals Treasurer

Upcoming YP Events:

Keep an eye out for future emails on our latest virtual notices and events!

See Past YP Events in earlier Newsletters.

Last Updated:  04/13/2026_JS